Description

International law on sovereign defaults is underdeveloped because States have largely refrained from adjudicating disputes arising out of public debt. The looming new wave of sovereign defaults is likely to shift dispute resolution away from national courts to international tribunals and transform the current regime for restructuring sovereign debt. Michael Waibel assesses how international tribunals balance creditor claims and sovereign capacity to pay across time. The history of adjudicating sovereign defaults internationally over the last 150 years offers a rich repository of experience for future cases: US state defaults, quasi-receiverships in the Dominican Republic and Ottoman Empire, the Venezuela Preferential Case, the Soviet repudiation in 1917, the League of Nations, the World War Foreign Debt Commission, Germany's 30-year restructuring after 1918 and ICSID arbitration on Argentina's default in 2001. The remarkable continuity in international practice and jurisprudence suggests avenues for building durable institutions capable of resolving future sovereign defaults.show more

Review quote

'A remarkable book - to our knowledge, it is the first comprehensive and systematic treatment of this subject. The book combines historical analysis with careful research of case law and other practice. The result is an impressive and original treatment of a subject that is of the utmost relevance for the present state of the international economic system.' Eyal Benvenisti, Jutta Brunnee and Francesco Francioni, jury for the 2012 ESIL Book Prize '... the text remains one of the few books which tackle a pressing and topical issue competently, presciently and thoroughly, and ultimately makes a robust case for lawyers to subsequently 're-energise the field'.' Adnan Amkhan Bayno, British Yearbook of International Law 'Michael Waibel's book is a timely, elegant, and rich study of the adjudication of sovereign defaults by international courts and tribunals.' Carlos Esposito, European Journal of International Law 'Sovereign Defaults [before International Courts and Tribunals] is comprehensible enough to be read by students yet comprehensive enough to provide new insights into public debt restructuring for even experienced scholars. Lawyers and historians alike will find something new in its pages ... Waibel's study is careful, useful and helps inform the debate in this increasingly vital policy arena.' John A. E. Pottow and Emily Himes Iversen, Banking and Finance Law Reviewshow more

About Dr Michael Waibel

Michael Waibel is a University Lecturer at the University of Cambridge and the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law. His main research interests are public international law, international economic law with a particular focus on finance and the settlement of international disputes. He teaches international law, WTO law and European Union law. Dr Waibel holds Mag. iur. and Dr. iur. degrees from the Universitat Wien, an MSc (Econ.) from the London School of Economics and Political Science and an LLM from Harvard Law School. He is admitted to the New York bar and holds a diploma of the Hague Academy of International Law. He has also worked for the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.show more

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